Developer: SCEA
Publisher: SCEA
Genre: Adventure
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 14 Mar 06

User Rating
9 (4 votes)

Score 10 (Best) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 (Worst)

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Overview

So you're on your PSP, and you are wondering what is the next big game to come from Sony for its portable device? Well I can almost bet money that most people are not talking about one of their latest releases Neopets Petpet Adventures: The Wand of the Wishing, mostly because for the most part Sony hasn't done much in terms of hyping this game up. So my question coming into this game was could this be one of those hidden gems that comes out and then everyone realizes what a great game it is? Well read our full review to find out!

Gameplay

So for those of you who don't know about Neopets, my first question for you is where have you been? It is basically an online community made up of these Neopets and it is an online community that has expanded tremendously throughout the years. In fact, many of you may not know this, but this isn't the first Neopets game to be released. Earlier this year Neopets: The Darkest Faerie was released, and had a moderate amount of success. So how does Sony do with The Wand of Wishing?

There is a story behind the Wand of Wishing which puts you as basically a Petpet who has been sent to Petaria because of the Wand of Wishing. You end up getting the chose of four different Petpets, obviously each with their own strengths and weaknesses. What is interesting about Neopets and its story is that I was never sure if I was supposed to take the story seriously, or just sit back and laugh hysterically. The story is just kind of weird and at times can be just down right dumb. Luckily it doesn't play a huge role in the game, which is definitely a good thing.

The game plays like a typical action RPG, where you get the over the top view point and just sticks with this pretty standard set of ideas. The game obviously being targeted for a younger age group doesn't have some of the complexities that some may expect from this sort of game, but once again I really never felt like this was a bad thing. If you come into this game knowing what to expect, then I think the amount of disappointment will be much less.

The game at its core is actually a very good game, but it does suffer from some problems that unfortunately really hold the game back. First off, the controls just did not feel as intuitive, and this is found mainly when the combat gets more intense then it should throughout the game. Also what is weird about this game is that it starts out super difficult and frustrating and progressively seems easier as you go through. This is something that will turn a lot of players away at first, and thus making the ending of the game much less gratifying. In the end, the over the top camera angle for me worked, but the gameplay just needed a much more balanced approach to really seem worthwhile.

Graphics

Visually you can see right away that this game was obviously made for the younger age group in mind, and I don't think that this is a bad thing by any stretch. Now what was bad was the implementation, which struggled to make these visual styles a reality. First off, the character models were rather bland, with a lack of detail and really just a lack of quality. The environments faired much better, especially with their diversity, but unfortunately even these were not perfect. The game does not exactly look terrible, but at the same time it could have been much better.

Fun Factor

When I first loaded up The Wand of Wishing, I really thought that this was going to be a pretty lame game. But I have to admit I was pretty impressed with the games initial flair. After a little time however I have to say that the game lost its enjoyed ability pretty quickly. I found the game to be a bit too frustrating and then way too easy, and it just never made me overly interested in what was going to happen next. As much as I thought this game had potential, it never really got it together in a way to make it a very enjoyable game.

Overall

In the end, Neopets Petpet Adventure: The Wand of Wishing is a game that had the potential to do a lot of magic on the PSP, but unfortunately most of the magic was more quick thrills than anything. If you like the whole Neopets universe, then you might find some to like. But in the end, I would probably just say this is a game that you can probably just pass up.

Gameplay
6.0

Graphics
6.0

Fun Factor
6.0

Overall
6.0

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